Rama signs P900M contract for CCMC’s remaining floors

ON TO 10TH FLOOR AT LAST. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama (second from left) shakes hands with Michael Allan Sicat, president of M.E. Sicat Construction, after they signed the contract and notice to proceed for the fourth phase of the Cebu City Medical Center, at the Legislative Social Hall of Cebu City Hall on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Phase 4 includes the construction of the rest of the floors of the unfinished 10-story building. Story on Page 2.
ON TO 10TH FLOOR AT LAST. Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama (second from left) shakes hands with Michael Allan Sicat, president of M.E. Sicat Construction, after they signed the contract and notice to proceed for the fourth phase of the Cebu City Medical Center, at the Legislative Social Hall of Cebu City Hall on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Phase 4 includes the construction of the rest of the floors of the unfinished 10-story building. Story on Page 2.

CONSTRUCTION of the rest of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) will now continue after the Cebu City Government signed the contract and issued the notice to proceed on Wednesday, April 6, 2022.

Mayor Michael Rama led the signing of the contract with representatives of M.E. Sicat Construction, which was chosen as the contractor for the fourth phase of the CCMC building.

Michael Allan Sicat, president of the construction firm, said the contract is worth P900 million.

Sicat said the fourth phase of the project covers the construction of the physical structures of the remaining floors of the 10-story hospital.

The project will also include completing and furnishing the interiors of the fourth and fifth floors of the building, said Sicat.

A possible Phase 5 is seen for work on the interiors of the remaining floors.

Three mayors

During his speech, Rama narrated how the construction of the new CCMC building had passed through four administrations.

Rama said the first phase was under his term in 2014; the second under his “predecessor” Tomas Osmeña; the third under his “partner,” the late mayor Edgardo Labella; and now under Rama’s term again as mayor after he assumed the post on Labella’s death last November.

“Call it serendipity, call it shared accident, but I always refer to it as not even destiny but rather God’s dictate,” said Rama.

The mayor said he wants the CCMC to be a globally competitive hospital that serves the poor.

“Hospital sa mga kabus, apan dato ang serbisyo,” Rama said.

Deadline

The mayor requested the contractors to finish the project as soon as possible and even asked that it be completed in time for his birthday.

“You want me to be happy? Make it on my birthday, Oct. 28,” Rama said.

According to Sicat, it was stipulated in the contract that the duration of the project was 570 days.

Sicat said they will conduct studies to see if the mayor’s deadline is attainable.

“We will do our best to have it topped off by Oct. 28,” Sicat said in a mixture of Tagalog and English.

Sicat added that as long as their company and the city government maintain a good working relationship, this deadline is feasible.

Rama said if a situation would require him to be admitted to a hospital, he would want to be admitted to the CCMC.

“I am not getting any younger. I am diabetic. I have (high) blood pressure, and God knows where I will be with my medical,” said Rama.

The construction of the fourth phase of the CCMC was cancelled in May 2021 due to the insufficiency of funds.

The new CCMC building was constructed after the old four-story edifice was abandoned and later demolished after being declared hazardous by city engineers after it was hit by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in October 2013.

A new six-story structure was completed in 2020, and interior construction in the first three floors began in July 2020.

In July 2021, the City Council approved a P1 billion allocation in its first supplemental budget for the completion of the seventh to 10th floors of the hospital.

The first three floors of the new CCMC were formally opened on Sept. 18, 2021 after a soft opening in December 2020.

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